In addition to a thrust for propelling the aircraft, aircraft engines—either civil aircraft engines or military aircraft engines—generate power for supplying attachments or auxiliary units of the gas turbine or for supplying aircraft-side systems such as the air conditioning system. The attachments, auxiliary units, or also aircraft-side systems of an aircraft engine may be devices, units, or systems driven hydraulically, pneumatically, or electrically or by an electric motor.
A clear trend toward increasing need for electrical power in the aircraft can be noticed in aircraft development. This is based on the fact that hydraulically or pneumatically driven aircraft systems are replaced by systems driven by electric motors and that an ever greater power demand exists per aircraft seat. Therefore, the aircraft engines must provide an ever greater amount of electrical power. Such aircraft engines are also referred to as “more electric engines”, (MEE).
For generating electrical power for supplying the attachments or auxiliary units of the gas turbine as well as the aircraft-side systems it is known from the related art to draw mechanical energy from a core engine of the gas turbine which is used for driving pumps and generators, for example. DE 41 31 713 C2 describes an aircraft engine in which shaft energy is drawn from a core engine and this shaft energy is supplied to auxiliary units.